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Read The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler!
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Phillosoph

Cooking Rice in Under Ten Minutes. Save Fuel and Money

My gas bill this previous quarter was much higher than I expected. Made even more frightening by the fact that it was a mild winter and I had barely used the heating. This got me thinking again about ways to save energy when cooking. 
A friend of mine once told me that during the rationing of World War Two his mother saved fuel by soaking rice overnight. By doing this she only needed to cook it five minutes. Time to experiment with this method again.
Here is the method that I have ironed out over the last few days:
Measure out your rice. 100 g is a generous portion and comes up to the 100 ml mark in one of my measuring jugs. Rather than bothering to weight the rice, I just fill the jug to the mark.
Should you wash rice?
Cooked rice is about three times the volume of dried. A quarter to half a cup of dried rice is good for a side dish. If you are hiking in the snow, a full cup may be warranted.
Measure food portion with handHand measures of food
For this pre-soak method, I generally fill a coffee mug half to two-thirds and top up with water.
Study the apparent depth and volume of the rice so you can estimate a similar amount by eye if necessary.
Place your cup of rice and water in the fridge. The first time I tried pre-soaking rice I ended up leaving it longer than I intended since I spent the next couple of nights down the pub and eating out. The rice sort of started fermenting, so I suggest you keep the soaking rice in the fridge just in case you are delayed. If it is winter, the kitchen is generally cold enough.
Leave the rice to soak a few hours, or better still, overnight.
When it is time to cook, pour the rice and water into a pot.
A broader pot heats up quicker and is less likely to boil over. You may need to add a bit more water to the rice so it is covered by at least a centimetre of water. Add a little salt too. Use a hob of suitable size for your pot.
Cooking instructions on packets of rice generally overestimate the cooking time or quantity of water needed.
If you add too much water, you are going to waste fuel heating it up. Too little and your pot may boil dry before you are done. You will have to experiment on getting the optimum for the pot you use. As in so many things, balance is the key.
Rice needs about twice its volume in water. As a general rule of thumb, ensure the rice is under 25 mm of water. For this method using presoaked rice you will actually need less water since there will be less cooking time.
Cover your pot, bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to simmer.
Give the rice about five to seven minutes.
If you are new to this cooking method, taste a little of the rice to see if it is soft or still a little gritty. 
Turn off the heat and let the pot stand, preferably over the still hot hob. The residual heat will continue to cook the rice without expending fuel. This gives you time to finish cooking the other components of your meal.
Drain your rice. Turn out onto a plate and serve with a variety of vegetables and a sensibly-sized portion of meat.
This method will prove pretty useful if you are hiking or camping and have to carry your own fuel.
In this case, I suggest that in the morning you place your rice and water in a wide-mouthed screw-top container and let it sit in your rucksack while you are walking. Such a container is a useful addition to your hiking kit since it can be used to prepare other backpacking foods that need a long soak.
I have not yet tried this method with brown rice. Is it possible to reduce the cooking time of dried pasta by pre-soaking?
I will have to experiment. Have a go yourselves.
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Phillosoph

Cutlasses

 

I got diverted reading about cutlasses the other day. According to the book I picked up it is not until the start of the nineteenth century that Royal Navy cutlasses were standardised, or at least records of the standard date to. In 1858 a new model of cutlass based on the 1853 cavalry sword was adopted and the blade length as standardized at 27" (right). I get the impression that most of the earlier patterns of cutlass were of this size. In 1871 weapons with a slightly shorter blade of 25½" were adopted. ’71 saw the adoption of both a new cutlass and a cutlass bayonet for the Martini-Henry rifle (below). Cutlass bayonets had been issued before, such as the 1859 model for the Enfield (above). The two ’71 pattern weapons seem to have been intended to share many common components between the bayonet and sword and the slight shortening of the blade may have been a concession to the bayonet role. In 1889 a cutlass with a blade of 28" was adopted.
What interested me about this passage was that the navy considered a blade of about 27" to be ideal for a cutlass. Most British army swords of this period are 32" or more in length. Cavalry swords tend to be longer and in the 33 to 36" range. I have a 1898 Officer’s sword with a 32" blade. It is a very nice weapon but I cannot handle it without feeling it would be handier and more agile with a few inches removed.
27-28" is also the “Perfect Length” for a sword that I pondered on in a previous post.

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Phillosoph

Sword Bayonets Part One

For no particular reason I have found myself thinking about sword bayonets recently. Perhaps it was because in a recent re-run of “Wonder Woman” a soldier was wearing one, which struck me as odd since he was an MP in white equipment and you would have expected a baton rather than a bayonet. (for that matter, the episode was set in the 1970s so a sword bayonet would have been an unlikely piece of equipment for any GI!)
My interest in sword bayonets goes back many years. One reason is in the opening passages of the Modesty Blaise adventure “Operation Sabre Tooth” there is a trial by combat and a soldier requests a bayonet to defend himself. Another character reveals he keeps as sword bayonet under the seat of his jeep and enthuses over its merits other a knife. Another source of my interest is the following passage in the Gun Digest Book of Knives, Fourth Edition. Page 106.
“The Yataghan is more of a machete-length short sword with a kukri’s chopping forward curve, but with the point brought back for thrusting. These can have considerable advantages over a machete. The Yataghan was widely used for so-called “Sabre Bayonets” at the time of the War Between the States. The Remington Zouave Rifle carried it, as did many European guns of the period. Perhaps its short sword length and association with the bayonet prevented its other capabilities from being appreciated. At any rate, this splendid weapon didn’t catch on in the West except in bayonet form. It still offers much to the user and should not be overlooked when making your choice. It has the length and reach of the machete in a stiffer blade. It is a powerful forward-curved chopper like a kukri, yet retains a fine thrusting point. Well balanced and lively in the hand it will perform hard work with ease.It is light and easy to carry as well.”
Careful readers will note that it is often uncertain if the author of the above is discussing yataghans in general or specifically yataghan-style bayonets. The poor quality photo in the article seems to suggest a bayonet blade that has been fitted with a new grip (possibly stag antler).
The story of sword bayonets begins with the hanger. Hangers were a short sword that was carried by infantry and other troops. The hanger itself was derived from a civilian tool favoured by outdoorsmen. Hangers, “short hunting swords”  or “couteau de chasse” were useful for chopping firewood, clearing brush and butchering game. They were carried by noble and commoner alike. There are exciting accounts of them being used to hunt game and they were a useful defence against both beast and man. Decorated versions might be worn out court to display one’s affection for hunting. They might also be worn in town as a handy defence against robbers, in many cases being more effective and convenient than rapiers or small swords. Understandably the common foot soldier found the hanger to be a useful implement. In addition to the sword bayonet the hanger is probably the ancestor of both the naval cutlass and the machete, and is why you occasionally come across machetes referred to as cutlasses. Sword bayonets were created to produce a bayonet that also served as an infantryman’s hanger. The yataghan configuration blade provided better clearance for the hand when reloading a muzzle-loading weapon. The blade shape is not without other merits so a number of breech loaders also used sabre bayonets.
Despite the claims of the passage quoted above, most sword bayonets I have handled would not be particularly good general survival knives. Most hangers resemble shortened sabres with slightly curved blades. They can fight with both point and edge but their application as brush knives means they have to be effective choppers. Most bayonets, on the other hand, then to have their weight well towards the hilt. Many of the older examples have solid brass hilts. Those that do not still have a considerable weight of metal in the grip designed to facilitate attachment to a rifle or musket. I have a number of wakizashi, barongs, machetes and kurkis of comparable weight and/or length to my sword bayonets. Just handling them makes it clear that for medium to heavy chopping the sword bayonets are inferior.
The sword bayonet may have been intended to replace the soldier’s hanger but it was a poor substitute when it came to use as a general utility tool. As a bayonet if may be argued that they certainly looked impressive and provided a long reach. On the other hand their weight when fitted affected the mean point of impact when shooting. Several nations came to the conclusion that lighter, handier bayonets were more practical.
It is the sword bayonet as a hand weapon that I intend to look into over the next few posts. Sword bayonets, as you might expect, are well suited to thrusting attacks. Their blades are long, narrowish, rigid and often provided with fullers or strengthening ribs. While chopping power is limited the length of the blades can be used to apply a draw cut against thinly protected flesh. We will look into these aspects in later posts.
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Phillosoph

Two Interesting Ideas

Today I am going to stray from my usual topics to pass on links to two very interesting articles.
There is a tired old chestnut that has been going around the internet and that I still get sent occasionally. The story goes that a man at an olive jarring factory hit on the idea of removing two olives from each jar, vastly increasing profits for the company. What a clever, simple idea this was! Only, if there is any truth in this story, it is not. Olives are sold by weight, so reducing the measure was at best fraudulent if not outright dishonest and theft.
Sometimes, however, you do come across an idea that is both simple, brilliant and has immense potential to make changes.
This is a brilliantly simple idea and made even more impressive by the fact that it was a high school student that thought of it.
Computer ink is very expensive; more expensive than some French perfumes! By changing to a font such as Garamond printing costs can be reduced by as much as 24%. The US government could save $400 million per year by implementing these ideas.
Garamond will save you money.
 
If I write another book I will put it in Garamond rather than my usual Times New Roman. Sadly the cost savings will not be passed on to either you as the buyer or myself as the author, but do not let that stop you treating yourself to some copies.
The second article mentions energy companies trying to “put the genie back in the bottle” by trying to implement legislation against alternate power sources. The suggestion is that if your business model is no longer valid, change it. It is an approach that may have other applications and is worth thinking about.
Steven Chu Solves Utility Companies' Death Spiral
 
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Phillosoph

Parched Rice and Balls!

   On many illustrations of Viet Cong or NVA soldiers you can see them wearing a tube-like item that resembles a thin blanket roll. This would be made of silk, cotton or even from a bicycle inner tube and carried the fighter’s rice ration.
Some books I have read claim this was a month’s ration but it is more likely to be about a week’s, for reasons I will explain.
During a conversation with a friend the other night, the topic of rations came up and I found myself trying to locate some information on how much rice an NVA/ VC ate in a day.
When I cook rice, I measure out a 100 ml volume in a jug, which is about 100 g. If I am honest, this is often more rice than I need.
I had a recollection that I had read that the NVA ration was 190 g. That is a lot of rice but credible when you consider a fighter was carrying a heavy load, moving long distances over rough terrain and may have been short of the meat and vegetables I bulk up my meals with.
The book I had read the 190 g figure in is no longer available on-line, and it is quite possible my recollection is wrong. I did come across another source that indicated that the monthly allowance of rice for a fighter was 20 kg. No way that those tubes hold 20 kg of rice.

Surprisingly, little good information could be found on-line about the VC rations.
Some sources tell us fighters were given four cans of fish and nine rice balls, but with no indication as to how long this was intended to last.
Some sources claim that the rice carried was either “parched” or pre-cooked.
Carrying a week or more’s worth of pre-cooked rice in a jungle environment sounds rather impractical unless the rice has been thoroughly dried after cooking.
While much of the VC’s food was portaged in from the north, they also took food from local sources and rice from here would have most likely been uncooked.
Sources talk about VC eating cold rice balls in the morning or while on the move, but also mention a detail of the unit being tasked with cooking rice when the unit halted for the night.
What seems probable was that each night enough rice was cooked for the hot evening meal and for the cold rations to be consumed on the next day.
The cooked rice not eaten that night was formed into rice balls for ease of handling. These balls were often formed around a small piece of fish or meat.
I also encountered mention of raisins being placed in a rice ball, although this was by an American unit that had adapted to eating rice balls since they were lighter than C-rats.
This diet of canned fish and rice was supplemented by any fresher food that was encountered. Edible leaves were a welcome addition and fruit such as wild oranges much prized.
While the VC ration was not particularly nutritionally balanced and a bit monotonous, the VC and NVA soldiers were generally well fed, unlike the ARVN soldiers who were often poorly supplied by their logistic forces.
Did the VC use “parched rice”? I don’t know, but given the frequent mention of rice being formed into balls it seems likely most of the rice carried was uncooked rice that was boiled.
Interestingly, you can parch rice and it is rather simple to do. It makes an interesting alternative to pinole.
I had a go at parching some rice last night using my wok. I cooked it to a light brown colour so I knew it was cooked sufficiently. I think I used a shade more oil than I needed but the result was not unpleasant.
It is kind of crunchy, a bit like trying to eat the unpopped bits of popcorn.
As you may expect if you have ever tried pinole, it is rather filling. I made a bowl of the stuff and most of it is still uneaten, even though this was all I had for dinner last night.
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Phillosoph

The Real Cost of the Olympics and World Cup

Regular readers of this blog know that I often encourage people to exercise more and make such simple lifestyle changes as taking the stairs instead of a lift. The subject of today’s blog may therefore come as a surprise to some of you. Some of you may really disagree with my view here, but I only ask that you think on the issues raised with an open mind.
Recently London was the host to the Olympic Games. In the middle of a economic recession and two foreign wars we decide to spend thousands of millions on what are mainly some pretty mediocre spectator sports? All sorts of unlikely justifications were made for having the Olympics. It was claimed that it would stimulate the economy. It never has done in most countries that have hosted the Olympics. Britain is now downsizing its army, police services and medical services due to a budgetary deficit that is oddly very close to what was spent on the Olympics. The Olympics were going to improve public fitness by encouraging people to take up sports. Three solid weeks of spectator sports are going to encourage people to not sit on their sofas snacking? Many of those few who did feel inspired to take up sports probably injured themselves by overdoing it. So we won a few golds in some events? What changes has that made to our lives? Just we have to sit through a few lame advertisements featuring sports personalities. For the amount of money spent we could have saved money minting a gold medal for every single person in the British Isles.
It was very interested to hear Brazil was hosting the World Cup and Olympics. Even more interesting was the suggestion that the favelas were to be knocked down to make way for the Olympic village. My Brazilian girlfriend’s response was one of amazement. “There will be a civil war! Last time they tried anything against the favelas they went into police stations and shot everyone!”
Olympic host cities have historically cleared away and marginalized their homeless in advance of the games. Over the twenty years prior to Brazil the Olympics has displaced over two million people. This figure has undoubtedly increased since the Rio games and World Cup.

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Phillosoph

Two Methods for Better Shooting.

200th Blog Post!
I must have been little more than a toddler when my father told me “you don’t pull a trigger, you squeeze it.” He had been trained this in the army and so deeply ingrained was this that he felt obliged to pass it on even though I was knee high and using a toy.
Many years later I was visiting Los Angeles and my hosts took me to shooting range. My hostess was very proud of the fact that she had been on a firearms training course run by well know trainer and gun writer. In a passing I mentioned something about “squeezing the trigger” and got a blank look. She had been on this intensive and expensive course, run by an “expert” who writes for gun magazines, and yet the concept of not jerking a trigger was new to her.
The other day I came across this article posted up on scribd. It is well worth a read and has some interesting ideas. It could have used an illustration of the recommended one handed grip, but you can probably work this out once you have mastered the two handed techniques. The idea of balancing things on you pistol while dry firing to check stability is kind of neat. I will also note that if you suspect your gun may not be suited to dry firing you can always chamber an empty casing or acquire some dummy/drill rounds.
Handgun Accuracy Overnight by A DANGEROUS MIND

Another article I recently read suggested ways to improve your instinctive aiming. I don’t have a weblink for this one since it was rather old. The idea was quite simple.
With an unloaded gun you close your eyes, aim at the target and then open your eyes. Correct your aim and then repeat the process again. The idea is to improve and educate your “muscle memory” to improve coordination of where you point and where you want to aim. The author suggests progressively making your target smaller as you improve. The latter echoes something I observed when I learn knife throwing. Throw at a man sized target and soon you are hitting a man sized target most of the time. Put a chest sized mark on the same target and soon most of your blades will stick in that area. Put a simple X on the target and most of you blades will hit within a few inches of here. It is all a question of focus. Often I would end up hitting knives I had already stuck.
If your gun has a laser spot system this can be a useful training aid in using the above techniques. Toy guns such as airsoft pistols can also be useful training aids.

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Phillosoph

Shooting Over Trenches and Around Corners

Given that it is Monday morning I will am going to avoid making this post too text intensive and just pass on some interesting images today. These are not really that useful for self-defence but they may interest or amuse, which is not a bad thing for a Monday morning.
Someone brought this image to my attention.

What you are seeing is an attachment for an MG-42 that allows it to be aimed and fired from a trench or foxhole without the user exposing their heads. Similar devices date back to the First World War. Trench warfare was a predominant facet of this conflict and understandably a number of devices to facilitate firing from trenches were developed. Many of these devices adapted the standard service rifle, which often necessitated some mechanism to work the bolt action the chamber a new round. There were also periscope equipped Lewis Guns.
During World War Two the Germans developed an alternate approach. The story goes that an institute that developed turrets for aircraft had a problem. The guns and their mountings had to fire a variety of directions including straight upwards, but bullets raining down from thousands of feet was a problem. A curved barrel fitting was created that would deflect the rounds into a mound of earth. The German army was concerned about the high number of head injuries that occurred while troops tried to fight from trenches. They also had a problem with Russian soldiers who would succeed in getting so close to Panzers that they could not be engaged with standard tank weapons. Someone saw the potential of a curved barrel fitting to solve both problems. The “Krummlauf” attachment was fitted to the StG44, a 30 degree model with a prismatic sight being used by infantry and a 90 degree model with a mirror being used by panzer crews. 45 and 60 degree models are also known to have been made and the sighting system might vary depending on the vehicle it was used from.

After the war both the Americans and the Russians experimented with the Krummlauf for a number of weapons including the M3 and the PPSh-41. The fitting for the M3 is interesting in that part of the barrel is a gutter, open on its inner side. In recent years we have seen a new “gun that can shoot around corners” for SWAT teams. This is the Cornershot, using a video camera system. In the James Lovegrove novel, “Age of Zeus” these are called “Perseus Guns”.
I will leave you with another image, a rather ingenious way to blind fire utilizing the MP40’s folding stock.

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Phillosoph

Four Tricks for Cleaning Water

Today’s blog will be a short one, but it will cover a couple of useful and interrelated ideas, all to do with water.
If you find a source of water, the chances are that it will not be too clean.
All sorts of mud, dirt and grit may be floating in it and the organic components will affect the efficiency of chemical purification methods you may employ.

Filter Tripod

One solution is to use a cloth bag to filter the water through.
I have even seen it suggested to use a spare pair of trousers. Tuck one leg into the other to form a double layer and then tie a knot in end of the leg(s).
Hang this up and pour water through so that it drips into a container.
In a long term camp, the filter can be packed with sand and straw etc.
Note that the water produced will be clearer, but cannot be considered to be safe until it has been boiled or chemically treated.
Wick Method of Filtration
A variation of the above is the wick method. Fill a container with your crude, suspect water and place an empty container lower down. Connect the two with a strip of cloth such as a bandanna and allow capillary action to do its thing. This may work with other materials such as paper or string. Experiment.
This method is a lot more economical on materials. When your wick becomes too dirty wash it or discard it.
Note that while the water produced will appear clearer it cannot be considered to be safe until it has been boiled or chemically treated.

Indian Well 

A third method I was taught to call an Indian Well. It is also called a seepage well.
We have all seen the movies when the protagonists get to a water hole and it is all muddy. “Oh no!” they cry.
What they should do is start digging a hole near the shore of the waterhole or river.
If the ground is too hard for your hands find an object you can use as a digging stick. A tent peg, tire iron, even a stick!
The hole should be about half a metre across and deep.
Since you have dug down into damp ground the hole will begin to fill with water.
Poke a few holes in the side of the hole and it will fill even quicker.
The water will probably look muddy and still something you do not want to drink.
Using your hands, a bark scoop, tin can or anything else you have handy, bail out the water and cast it onto the ground nearby.
Eventually the water coming through should become clearer. Leave it a while and more material will settle out.
The water will still need to be filtered further and boiled or treated.
This is not the fastest method of getting cleaner water but does have the advantage that you can use it when not near an obvious water source. Just dig down into damp ground.
The water first revealed by digging a hole just above the high-tide mark should be fit for drinking. Further digging only produces water which is too salty..
Obviously, digging at a low point will be more productive than a hilltop.Dig between dunes or the lowest point on the outside bend of a dry water course.
The Boy Scout Handbook (1911) tells us that an Indian Well should be several feet from the water source, twelve inches across and six inches below the water level.
Empty by bailing at least three times before considering using the water.

Solar Distillation with Bottles

Our fourth method is useful for sunnier locations such as the desert, but may work elsewhere.
Take two bottles, glass or plastic. Clear is good but if both are opaque use the darker coloured one for the “crude” water.
Partially fill one bottle with untreated water and tape the necks of the two bottles together.
Since we are in the desert we will assume you have a vehicle nearby (working or not) and it has some tape in the tool kit. (don’t go to places like the desert without a tool kit and other essentials in your vehicle!).
If you have a suitable tube, use this to connect the two bottles rather than taping them neck to neck.
Find a slope or pile of sand, Select the side that will get the most exposure to the sun (the south in the northern hemisphere).
If the bottles were taped directly together, lay the two bottles on their sides and bury the empty one in the side of the slope, leaving the one with water exposed to the sun.
Let nature take its course.
The water in the outside bottle will be heated and evaporate. Being in a closed system it will pass into the interior of the buried bottle and the drop in temperature will cause it to condense.
After a while, the buried bottle will contain drinkable water which can be collected if you take the apparatus to pieces carefully.
If you had a suitable tube, you could have run this into the collection bottle when you constructed the device.
If you paid attention in school, you will recognise this method as distillation without the need for Bunsens and heatproof glassware.
The source water you used could have been urine and the produced water would still be safe to drink.

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Phillosoph

Self-Defence on the Toilet

Today, as I still lay asleep, my dreaming mind decided to consider what today’s blog would be about. It considered several topics, which in the manner of dreams mingled and interwove. These resolved into two articles, both part-written as I travelled into work. All that was needed was to write them down and decide which was more suitable for a Friday blog. Regular readers will know that I often elect to make Friday’s blog a little different. Usually it is something humorous, and failing that something a little off-topic that may still entertain or provoke thought. I had decided to post the more off-topic of the two possible articles. Then I looked at my emails and a link a friend had sent me and I knew that I had Friday’s blog topic.
How to Poop Like a Samurai
 

In Spider Robinson’s book “Callahan’s Crazy Crosstime Bar” an alien character is asked what he finds most remarkable about living on Earth. His answer, to the surprise of everyone else, is “bathrooms”. He then gives a long list of reasons for his statement. One point I recall is that he asks why people waste so much time running hot and cold taps to get the desired temperature when a cheap electronic addition could do this? I have discussed on this blog that we frequently use hot water in the bathroom when we do not need it.
Years ago the friend who sent me today’s link and myself got into a long discussion on illogical aspects of bathrooms. I seem to recall that one topic was the shape of toilet bowls. Why is the back of them gently sloped? If the rear part was more vertical, or even receding towards the bottom this part would be less prone to fouling. The horse-shoe shaped toilet seats used in some public institutions are more hygienic than the more common horse-collar shaped seats, being less prone to drips of urine from a seated user.
Friday blogs has semi-humorously mentioned the topic of self-defence in the bathroom. It is a place with just one way in or out in which you may be naked or partially dressed. Is it that outlandish to have some means of defence in that room against an intruder? I watched a movie the other week where the female protagonist survives and encounter with two psychopathic serial killers. Unlike most movies of this ilk, the heroine realizes one or both of these men may come after her and makes preparations. We see her moving around her home. There is a knife taped under the counter top, a stout stick in the umbrella stand and in her shower is a screwdriver in the cup with her toothbrush.
Possibly the most interesting point in the “Poop like a Samurai” article is how the master also considered this posture to be better for evacuation. I have yet to try it but it did remind me of the works of Alexander Kira. Kira was an advocate of the modified squat position. There are various companies and individuals that will sell you gizmos to make your toilet more like squatting over a hole, but these are not really necessary. Just rest your toes on the floor and lean forward so your elbows are on your knees.(middle right, below) It really does make things easier.